Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle under pressure over her support for Medicare overhaul

Jim Commentucci / The Post-StandardDemonstrators, including Tina Fitzgerald of Mattydale, vice-president of Disabled in Action of Greater Syracuse, who is in a wheelchair, gather outside the James M. Hanley Federal Building in Syracuse on June 16, 2011 to protest Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle's support for a proposed overhaul of the Medicare system.

Washington -- Six months after taking office, U.S. Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle is facing the first mass protests of her congressional career over her vote for a Republican plan to cut spending by dramatically overhauling the federal Medicare program.

Over the past three weeks, Buerkle said, she and her staff answered hundreds of phone calls from Central New Yorkers — including some from sobbing seniors — worried about the future of Medicare, the public health care system for the elderly and people with disabilities.

The freshman congresswoman also faced angry protesters at a town hall meeting in the Wayne County town of Palmyra this month, and later a raucous crowd rallied in front of her Syracuse office to protest the proposed reforms.

The Republican plan written by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and approved by the House of Representatives in April, would essentially end the existing Medicare program for those younger than age 55. Instead, new recipients would receive voucher-like subsidies averaging $8,000 per year to buy private health insurance.

For seniors currently receiving benefits, the Ryan plan would reopen the prescription “doughnut hole” that had been fixed by President Barack Obama’s health-care reforms passed by Congress last year. That means 11,300 residents of the 25th Congressional District would pay more for their prescription drugs, costing local seniors an extra $111 million over 10 years, according to a study by House Democrats.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in Washington paid for automated calls in the districts of 13 House Republicans, including Buerkle. The congresswoman said the recorded calls told seniors they would lose their Medicare benefits under the GOP plan.

Buerkle said she personally took many calls from upset constituents transferred to her office by the DCCC’s automated phone system.

’’This is, I think, the most despicable campaign — when you prey upon seniors and their fears,” Buerkle said. “And they are the most vulnerable people. Even if this proposal were adopted, it won’t affect anyone 55 and over.”

Buerkle did not dispute the fact that Republican reforms would reopen the prescription “doughnut hole” for seniors currently receiving benefits.

’’My challenge to the Democrats has been to come up with another plan so we can begin a debate,” Buerkle said. “That’s all this is — a place to start the debate.”

Among those eager to debate the issue with Buerkle is Sally Johnston, president of Disabled in Action of Greater Syracuse.

Johnston led a cheering crowd of some 65 people in a protest June 16 in front of the James M. Hanley Federal Building in Syracuse, where Buerkle has her district office. The crowd, which included many local Democratic activists who have opposed Buerkle on other issues, chanted, “Buerkle has health care. Why can’t we?”

In an interview, Johnston said the Republican reforms to Medicare and Medicaid, the federal health insurance program for the poor and disabled, would leave many Central New Yorkers without the means to obtain medical care.

“This would leave elderly people at the mercy of insurance companies whose premiums continue to rise,” Johnston said. “I think it’s a very dangerous proposal. And I don’t think Ann Marie Buerkle really represents her constituents on this issue.”

New polls show the majority of Americans oppose the GOP’s Medicare reforms. A Bloomberg National Poll conducted June 17 to June 20 found Americans believe 57 percent to 34 percent that they would be worse off under the Medicare overhaul.

Democrats said the issue of Medicare reform was a major factor behind Democratic U.S. Rep. Kathy Hochul’s upset win last month in a special election in the 26th Congressional District, a Buffalo-area district that had been dominated by Republicans.

Public opposition to the GOP Medicare reforms is strong in the areas surrounding Syracuse and Onondaga County in the 23rd Congressional District, according to U.S. Rep. Bill Owens, D-Plattsburgh. Owens, whose 11-county district includes all of Oswego and Madison counties, said calls and letters to his office are running 8-to-1 against the Ryan plan.

Owens said he voted against the GOP budget bill that included the Medicare reforms because it would force private insurance companies to cover the oldest, sickest members of society, while the new federal subsidies would pay only about 50 percent of the costs.

Medicare currently costs the federal government $12,000 to $14,000 per year for each beneficiary, he said. But the Ryan plan would provide only about $8,000 to future Medicare recipients to pay for the private Medicare insurance.

In addition, future Medicare recipients would have to take on a bigger burden when it comes to paying for their insurance, Owens said.

“That cost is all being shifted to the Medicare recipient,” Owens said.

Owens said House Republicans are simply wrong to ignore the health care reforms passed in the Affordable Care Act last year that reins in the cost of Medicare by making about $500 billion in cost reductions over 10 years.

A third Central New York member of Congress says he’s open to putting all of the Medicare reform ideas on the table.

“If you don’t vote to do something with Medicare, you’re voting for it to fail,” Hanna said. “Do I think everything is good with Mr. Ryan’s proposal? No. But it’s a good way to start talking about it.”